Annahita, alongside Dr Mark Wagner and Ron Rosano, is one of the instigators and organizers of "The Space Education Summit". She is an author, researcher, lecturer at Kepler Space Institute, and a chartered psychologist providing consultation, training and therapy. Her areas of interest include space health and the Overview Effect, neuroscience, stress and trauma, performance, and altered states of consciousness. She serves as an advisor to multiple organisations and was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). She has been a guest lecturer at various establishments such as Deakin University, Central St Martin’s, and University College London (UCL), invited to talk about mental health and the Overview Effect on BBC Radio 4 and TEDx. She is an active researcher and published papers and articles with Springer and other media outlets.

Annahita's main aim is to research and apply the Overview Effect in psychology and to bring the Overview Effect "down to Earth". In 2022, she co-authored a children's book with Frank White called, "Starsailor: The Overview Effect Chronicles"

The Overview Effect, a term coined by space philosopher, Frank White, describes a transcendent-like state that can emerge when witnessing remarkable natural landscapes from an expansive vantage point, and Earthgazing from orbit or the Moon is the epitome of this experience. Several years ago Annahita interviewed NASA astronauts to investigate the therapeutic benefits of the Overview Effect, as part of her doctoral research. She soon realised that the Overview Effect offers comparable results to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and nature-based experiences in promoting eco-transcendence and eudaemonic well-being.

After completing her doctoral studies, Annahita co-founded EarthscapeVR (formally VROE), where she helps create evidence-led Extended Reality (XR) multisensory experiences based on the Overview Effect. The XR programs can be utilised as an adjunct to psychotherapy, workshops, or as a standalone well-being tool for individuals, groups and organizations. Annahita is now facilitating the integration of the established XR/VR component into therapeutic programs for Sustainable Leaders and Ecotherapy (in development). A further aim is to leverage programs to determine via empirical research: 1) if they can trigger self-transcendent states analogous to the Overview Effect and 2) to investigate the potential benefits of the programs in the field of applied psychology to provide alternative solutions to current challenges in mental health on-world and off.

You can learn more about VROE at www.vr-overview-effect.co.uk or EarthscapeVR at https://www.earthscapevr.com/

Instagram: @earthscapevr

Ron has been pursuing his passion of inspiring students about space travel for over 25 years, as an informal astronomy and spaceflight educator with several different programs. He’ll be flying into space with Virgin Galactic and into the stratosphere with Space Perspective and World View.

Ron is the organizer of Galactic Unite Spacechats (live Q&A video calls), connecting Virgin Galactic staff and astronauts with (as of March 2022) over 12,000 students from over 200 schools and 13 different countries.

Since 2008, he has conducted more than 70 events as a NASA Solar System Ambassador, giving presentations on Mars rovers, The James Webb Space Telescope, the Apollo Moon landings, commercial space flight, and more.

Ron has closely followed NASA and other space missions ever since the Apollo lunar flights. He is thankful to be credited for his work on NASA's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, and has been active in public telescope viewing with the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers.

Ron serves on the Advisory Council of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific , the Board of Advisors of Human Space Program, and Board of Directors of the Nepal Youth Foundation.

Ron’s purpose is to give students and humans across the globe a perspective of Earth as a planet as it exists in the incredibly incomprehendsible vast emptiness of space, encouraging the understanding of the uniqueness of our globe as a candle of light in an immense Universe; inspiring others to see themselves as crew on this planet Earth, and helping others realize the need the protect and preserve this globe, as it exists under a tenuous and extremely thin atmosphere, which keeps everything alive within it.

www.ronrosano.com

Dr. Mark Wagner is CEO and co-founder of ARES Learning, which prepares students with the skill sets and mindsets they need to be successful in the growing space economy - and in humanity’s rapidly approaching multi-planet future. He serves as the Director of Education Partnerships at the nonprofit Aldrin Family Foundation, which offers STEAM-based educational tools, curriculum, and programs that inspire the next generation to take on space. Dr. Wagner also serves as President of the Space Prize Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering young women to pursue STEAM education and to explore careers in the space industry. In addition, he teaches space education courses for teachers… and is working toward publishing the first Journal of Space Education.

Dr. Wagner is a former high school English teacher, later serving as an Educational Technology Coordinator at the site, district, and county levels. In 2006 he launched EdTechTeam, a professional development company dedicated to inspiring and empowering educators around the world. Each year EdTechTeam served 50,000 educators through over 100 conference-style events and hundreds of others workshops in dozens of countries. EdTechTeam was recognized as the Google for Education Partner of the Year in 2018. As a former aerospace engineering student and a lifelong space enthusiast (having attended Space Camp twice while growing up), he is thrilled to now apply his educational technology experience in the increasingly important field of space education.

Mark Wagner has a Ph.D. in Educational Technology and a masters degree in Cross-Cultural Education. He also holds graduate certificates in Space Education and Space Philosophy. He is the author of More Now: A Message from The Future for The Educators of Today (2018) and Space Education: Preparing Students for Humanity’s Multi-Planet Future (2022), which explores both the current reality on Earth and the possibilities for teaching students on the Moon, on Mars, and in deep space habitats.

Outside his work, Mark loves playing hockey, practicing martial arts, and obsessing over his ’62 beetle, which runs on an electric motor and Tesla batteries. He is a certified health coach and biohacking enthusiast, who also enjoys songwriting, spending time in nature, and exploring the world with his friends and family.

mark@areslearning.com
949-639-9743

twitter.com/markwagner
instagram.com/markwagner
facebook.com/markdouglaswagner
linkedin.com/in/markdouglaswagner

Gitika Gorthi is the Founder and CEO of IgnitedThinkers, a non-profit organization she founded in the 8th-grade to spread space education and her love for aerospace to all students (www.ignitedthinkers.org). Gitika is a freshman at Columbia University in the College of Engineering and Applied Science as a C. Prescott Davis Scholar. Gitika is an aspiring aerospace physician, medical researcher, and astronaut.

Through IgnitedThinkers, Gitika is working towards breaking the glass ceiling for minorities in the aerospace industry, incorporating more hands-on research space science-based activities into elementary education curriculums, and igniting the passions of all students by providing them the opportunity to explore and create. IgnitedThinkers' mission and vision statement are simple: to ignite, inform, and inspire students across the world.

Previously, Gitika conducted medical research at the Baylor College of Medicine Space Medicine Center, researched wind turbines at the University of Central Florida at Raghavan Research Group, and worked with professor Dr. Prasanta Pal from Brown University to develop telemedicine technology. Additionally, Gitika is a former NASA Ames Research Center GeneLab intern.

Currently, Gitika is a student researcher at Columbia Medical School Center for Radiological Research and an intern at the Kuo Lab in Columbia Medical School’s Research Center researching ataxia and tremor. Furthermore, Gitika is a member of the NASA GeneLab Animal Analysis Working Group doing bioinformatics data analysis. Gitika is also an incoming student researcher at Harvard Medical School’s in The Harvard Summer Research Program in Kidney Medicine.

Gitika is climbing towards her goal of going into aerospace medicine research. Gitika is extremely excited about the new understanding studying humans in space will bring to treat diseases here on Earth and the medical technological advancements that will occur on Earth with the greater utilization of telemedicine for deep-space exploration missions. Most recently, Gitika was named one of the Top 100 Women in Aerospace and Aviation Professionals to Follow on LinkedIn in 2022. The future of aerospace is exciting, and Gitika is working to make it a more diverse and equitable environment for everyone.